Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone

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“’The Supreme Court decision [on Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas] is the greatest victory for the Negro people since the Emancipation Proclamation,’ Harlem’s Amsterdam News exclaimed. ‘It will alleviate troubles in many other fields.’ The Chicago Defender added, ‘this means the beginning of the end of the dual society in American life and the system…of segregation which supports it.’” Oliver Brown, father of Linda Brown decided that his third grade daughter should not have to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard just to get to the bus stop before she could even get to the separate Negro school for her area. He attempted to enroll her in the white public school only three blocks from their home, but her enrollment was denied due to her race. The browns believed this was a violation of their rights, and took their case to the courts. This wasn’t the first time that blacks found their constitutional rights violated. After the civil war, laws were passed to continue the separation of blacks and whites throughout the southern states, starting with the Jim Crow laws which officially segregated the whites from the black. It wasn’t until 1896 in Plessy vs. Ferguson that black people even began to see equality as an option. Nothing changed in the world until 1954 when the historical ruling of Brown vs. The Board of Education that anything changed. Until then, all stores, restaurants, schools and public places were deemed ‘separate but equal’ through the Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling in 1896. Many cases just like the Brown vs. Board of Education were taken to the Supreme Court together in a class action suite. The world changed when nine justices made the decision to deem segregation in public schools unconstitutional. After the Civil War, white southerners had to figure out ways to continue feeling superior to their former slaves. Anxious to regain power over former slaves, southerners created the Black Codes of 1865. These codes were different from state to state, but most held similar restrictions. If blacks were unemployed, they could be arrested and charged with vagrancy. White Southerners believed blacks were to only work as agricultural laborers so the laws also restricted their hours of labor, duties, and behavior. Additionally, the codes prevented the raising of their own crops by black people. They were prohibited from ent... ... middle of paper ... ...south. Because of the decision of nine justices of the Supreme Court, the term ‘separate but equal’ was eliminated when it came to schools, and opened the door for integration of restaurants and all public places. Bibliography African-American History News Letter. “The Black Codes of 1865”. Web. 25 May 2015. http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa121900a.htm. Beggs, Gordon. The American University Law Review. "Novel Expert evidence in federal civil rights litigation.” 1995. Brown V. Board of Education. “About the Case.” BrownvBoard.org Web. 25 May 2015. www.brownvboard.org Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education a civil Rights Milestone and it’s Troubled Legacy. Oxford University Press. New York 2001. Perry, Imani. "Five myths about Brown v. Board of Education" The Washington Post. May 16, 2014. Web. 25 May 2015. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-brown-v-board-of-education/2014/05/16/fd84b82c-dc3b-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html Robinson, Susan. “A Day in Black History: Plessy Vs. Ferguson”. Gibbs Magazine. October 2008. Web. 25 May 2015. Sitkoff, Harvard. The Struggle for Black Equality. 2008

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